


This Is How Our Journey Began

by iamthefacebehindthemask



Series: Kageyama Rare Pair Week 2 [5]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Canon Compliant, Captain Ennoshita Chikara, Captain Tsukishima Kei, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Getting Together, Kageyama Rare Pair Week, M/M, Romance, Vice-Captain Kageyama Tobio
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-09
Updated: 2017-01-09
Packaged: 2018-09-16 00:17:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9265403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamthefacebehindthemask/pseuds/iamthefacebehindthemask
Summary: This work is for Kageyama Rare Pair Week 2, Day 5.Prompts: Firsts | LastsBonus: Road Trip





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So I know I have a WIP I'm ignoring for a bit, but I just had to participate in Kageyama Rare Pair Week 2! Of course, I'm writing TsukkiKage, my favorite Kageyama rare pair :) I've kinda messed up the order in which I'll be posting because I got inspired to write on the later prompts first, oh well.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one! ^_^

If asked, Kei could easily describe the progression of their relationship by talking about the road trips.

It couldn’t really be classified as such, but Kei considered every trip the team took in order to play matches as a road trip. Tobio didn’t really think about these things the way Kei did, but that was probably because he was either sleeping, eating, or thinking about strategies to use during games during the journey.

On the very first trip, Kei sat next to Tadashi, since both of them were far more comfortable around one another than around anyone else. Tobio sat next to Shouyou, a few seats away, perhaps for the same reason. Kei was grateful for Tadashi’s silence because he really didn’t want to talk; they listened to the music on his phone till it ran out of power and kept to themselves afterward. On the other hand, Shouyou had long abandoned his seat and joined the second years at the back of the bus after Tobio threw him several murderous glares for waking him up from his sleep. Kei and Tadashi took the liberty to snicker at Tobio’s expression while he slept.

By the fifth road trip, Kei had realized that Shouyou’s loud presence was too distracting for Tobio, who wanted some peace of mind before the game. Still, the seating arrangements did not change.

* * *

On the day of their match against Nekoma during the Spring National Championship, Tobio was about to sit next to Shouyou on the bus that would take them from their hotel to the stadium, when Tadashi stopped him and sat down in his place instead. Tobio immediately looked at Shouyou, a little puzzled, but the latter only smiled enigmatically.

“We need you to be at your best, Kageyama-kun! There’s a seat for you two rows behind us”, Shouyou said, with a peace sign. Tobio looked at the seat he meant and recognized that it was next to Kei’s seat. The middle blocker, who was staring out of the window, merely added, “But even if you need to be in top form, I’m not giving up my window seat, Your Majesty.” 

The setter swallowed all the retorts on his tongue and sat down gratefully. He opened the book containing notes on their rivals and began to read. Occasionally, Kei would look at the compilation over his shoulder without a word.

If asked, Tobio would say that this was the beginning of everything.

Six months later, Kei and Tobio sat together as they were returning from a match. Prior to this road trip, they had only sat together on the journey before the game (a decision the rest of the team had wholeheartedly encouraged). There was silence, but by no means was it awkward anymore; they’d passed that stage a while back.

* * *

They had lost the match.

Kei, perceptive as always, looked at his seatmate out of the corner of his eye as they journeyed back to Karasuno. For the first time, he was annoyed at how tall he was: his height was making it really difficult for him to see Tobio’s expression, which was hidden by black hair falling over his eyes. The only consolation was that the middle blocker could still see the lower half of the setter’s face. Of course, knowing that the latter was gritting his teeth in frustration did little to comfort Kei.

He looked around, and after confirming that the rest of the team was too busy to notice them, put a steady hand on Tobio’s shoulder- a reassuring gesture, perhaps. It caused the setter to jolt out of his thoughts and looked at Kei, who was pretending to stare at something outside the window. Tobio looked away after a few moments, knowing he was being ignored. Still, the middle blocker was surprised that the hand had not been shrugged off, as he had anticipated.

Later, as everyone separated to go home, Tobio nodded at Kei in farewell, for the first time.

* * *

After their crushing defeat at the Fall Interhigh Championship, Karasuno had come back and qualified for the Spring Nationals. Sugawara and Sawamura had come to see the match, and when the ex-captains praised Ennoshita, he had cried in front of the entire team for the first time.

But that wasn’t the moment that had stood out to Kei.

_“I’m sorry I couldn’t get that last spike over, King.”_

_“It’s weird when you apologize, so quit it already.”_

_“Haha, throwing my own lines back at me? You must be lacking in originality, Your Highness, to quote a commoner.”_

_“And you must be running out of steam, to apologize so sincerely to me.”_

Kei had played formidably well after that. Many spectators had proclaimed him to be the MVP, something that felt strangely nostalgic, but Kei disagreed with them. If he was considered the MVP because of how well he had played, then the real MVP was Tobio, who had reignited the spark under him earlier in the match.

Tuning out the chattering, the snores, and the rumbling of the engine, Kei looked at Tobio, whose eyelids were drooping with exhaustion as he struggled to not fall asleep. He sighed.

“King, just sleep. I’m not going to take embarrassing photos of you or anything because watching you do this is even more pathetic than your sleeping expression could ever be.”

Tobio nearly choked on his own spit, and after a few moments shut his eyes.

Kei stuck to his own promise to Tobio, even as Tadashi took a picture of the middle blocker’s blushing face when the setter’s head came to rest on his shoulder.

* * *

_“Did you just… kiss me?”_

_“I did.”_

_“What does that mean? Do you… like me?”_

_“I do. What about you?”_

_“Me?”_

_“Do you like me back, King?”_

_“I… I need some time to think about it!”_

_Retreating footsteps. A resigned sigh._

_“If you're going to reject me then just do it right away.”_

* * *

As the bus pulled out of the school parking lot for the first match of their last year as high school students, Tobio glanced at Kei. With glasses swapped out for contact lenses, blonde hair just a little longer (and a little messier) so that the bangs rested on his forehead, and nearing 200 centimeters in height, Tsukishima Kei had an impressive presence. Which suited him, since he was the newly appointed captain of the volleyball team.

 _As if knowing how I feel about him isn’t enough to unnerve me_ , Tobio thought. Still, he carefully reached out towards the hand placed between them and grasped it with his own.

After all, there was nothing to fear: he already knew his feelings were reciprocated. He was simply making his own feelings known.

Golden-brown eyes widened in his direction.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you very much for reading. Kudos and comments are really appreciated!


End file.
